According to the regular report by outplacement firm
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., employers
said they planned to put 79,925 people on the street – down
from the 85,117 announced the month before. Challenger said
August was the fourth consecutive month with fewer than
100,000 announced job cuts, a trend that has not occurred
since 2000.

The August 2003 job cuts were 32% lower than the
118,067 staff reductions announced the same month a year
ago. Things also looked rosy when measured on a
year-to-date basis. Challenger said there were 795,574
job cuts through the first eight months of the year –
down 138,986 or 15% from the 934,560 job cuts announced
through August 2002.

In a blast from the past, telecommunications was
the top job-cutting sector for the first time since
December 2002, announcing 18,739 planned cuts in August
2003. It was the highest number of telecom cuts
since 33,801 job cuts were announced in November
2002.